Natalie Zaman
Samhain is a day for honoring ancestors, and cemeteries are sacred sites designed for this very purpose. Step into a cemetery and you’ll find religious symbols (or lack thereof), as well as flowers and trees—living and carved in stone. Obelisks soar into the sky, mysterious vaults, some decorated and capped with ornate metalwork or fitted with stained glass are silent and mysterious chapels. Here and there, angels pray with clasped hands or outstretched arms, their faces drawn in eternal expressions of grief. Each has a story to tell, mostly through imagery, and sometimes, in verse:
Lasting only and divine
Is an innocence like thine1
The language of the graveyard is largely, though not wholly, symbolic and expresses the spirit of Samhain—a knowledge and acceptance of our shared mortality, whatever the faith or path of the deceased. Alongside names and dates are images with histories that can date back thousands of years and over time have acquired new layers of meaning.
The human skull, or an entire skeleton—sometimes accompanied by the Latin phrase Memento Mori, meaning “remember death”—is the ultimate symbol of mortality. This image of the last vestige of human remains—popular in the Middle Ages throughout Europe in the form of transi tombs, elaborate bunk tombs consisting of an idealized effigy above and a realistic cadaver below—expressed the notion that whatever station or status one held in life, we all, in the end, share the same fate. But there’s hope. Winged skulls (death heads) and skeletons were reminders that whatever the fate of the body, the soul is immortal.
In the eighteenth century, winged skulls and skeletons evolved into something softer and rounder. Unlike their decidedly scarier predecessors, putti-like soul effigies expressed a more positive outlook on the afterlife. Pouting, smiling, scowling—some, perhaps, portraits of the deceased with individualistic expressions—conveyed the idea that while the nature of the afterlife is uncertain, we hope to retain that which makes us who we are. Soul effigies are often mistaken for angels who appear on later tombs and are separate entities who acted as mourners, intercessors, and guardians.
Cemeteries are filled with trees both living and rendered in stone. Each tree carries its own message: The oak symbolizes strength and longevity, but broken or cut down, the end of life. A watery tree, the willow is connected to emotions, and so a fitting mourning image. Willows are associated with the Moon and feminine divinity, specifically Hecate the goddess of the crossroads and Persephone, Queen of the Underworld. Passing through the veil of the willow’s boughs is a metaphoric passing to the next life. The willow is also a symbol of renewal; a cut willow will always grow again.
People have been placing flowers on graves since ancient times. As an offering of beauty for ancestors (whose spirits were believed to inhabit tombs), flowers were also used to mask the smell of death. Living or carved in stone, every flower has unique symbolic value. Roses represent love; rosebuds could mark the grave of a child. Lilies, a flower of spring and the renewal of life, suggest hope in grief. Forget-me-nots invoke remembrance, and since the early twentieth century, poppies have become associated with the military. Wilted flowers or flowers with a broken stem express grief or the end of life.
For thousands of years, urns held both mortal remains (internal organs or ashes) as well as “grave goods,” material possessions the deceased would need for his or her stint in the afterlife. Sometimes urns are depicted partially draped, the cloth denoting the veil through which we pass. The hidden part of the urn expresses the thought that we do not, and perhaps cannot, know or see all.
The sun is a symbol of deity, the power around which all life turns. Often depicted on the horizon—rising or setting—it is a statement of the end of one life and the beginning of another. Sometimes accompanied by stars and the Moon, the Sun represented the life cycle and the vastness of the universe—a universal tenet.
The use of birds on tombs dates back to ancient Egypt where they represented the soul. The most prevalent cemetery bird in the United States is the dove. In Christian iconography, doves symbolize the Holy Spirit, but they could also represent the flight of the soul from this earth and the peace one achieves in the hereafter.
Hourglasses represent not only the passage of time, but the finite nature of mortal creatures. An hourglass depicted on its side denotes that time has stopped for the deceased. Wings added to an hourglass express the sentiment tempus fugit—time flies. As when they appear on skulls and soul effigies, wings are a reminder of the eternal and unlimited nature of the soul.
The most expressive appendage on the human body, hands in various gestures are a common funerary image. A finger pointing upwards directs the gaze heavenward, to the afterlife or perhaps a higher power. Held palm outward, a single hand reminds the visitor to pause and reflect. Clasped hands express universal brotherhood, or eternal love. Look closely at the sleeves that border each hand. If one is distinctly feminine and the other masculine, it represents a spouse welcoming his or her partner into heaven.
Circles symbolize the never-ending nature of eternity. Interestingly, circles on tombstones are sometimes rendered as snakes. This misunderstood and often misrepresented creature is honored in the cemetery when carved in a circle; because he cyclically sheds his skin, the snake is a symbol of renewal and rebirth—one who dies only to be reborn.
Graveyards are publicly accessible spaces that are garden and museum, historical record and house of worship. Most importantly, they are ancestor altars on a grand scale. Learn the language of this sacred space and speak to the mighty dead.
Blessed Samhain!
Additional Resources
Keister, Douglas. Stories in Stone: A Field Guide to Cemetery Symbolism and Iconography. Layton: Gibbs Smith, 2004.
The Association for Gravestone Studies (www.ags.org)
Find a Grave (www.findagrave.com)
Zaman, Natalie and Clark, Katharine. Graven Images Oracle. Woodbury: Galde Press, 2007.
1. Poem on a headstone in the Old Presbyterian Burying Ground, Bound Brook, NJ